Crocheted Border - Simple But Pretty!

A crocheted border on a knitted or crocheted afghan can give it such a nice finishing touch. Depending on who will be receiving the afghan or baby blanket, either a simple border of single crochet or a foofy frilly ruffle border might be appropriate. Of course there is always a Something In Between type of border that could be just the thing too.

The most recent Oddball baby blanket I completed was Forest Greens on which I knitted the last section in a basket weave design. On that blanket, I was also on Border Patrol so I came up with a simple but pretty -- and easy -- border for this one. Here is a close-up of a finished corner...


Working a round or two of single crochet around a knitted piece is a good way to get a border going. It stabilizes the edges and provides crochet stitches into which you can work the decorative border for the last round.


This is the whole blanket all finished and ready to be delivered. The colors in this picture are much closer to real life than the colors in the corner picture above.

Would you like to use this border pattern on your own knitted or crocheted blanket? Here's the pattern:

Work 2 or more rounds of single crochet (sc) around the entire piece, making sure to work 3 sc in each corner so the piece will lie flat.

For final decorative round, * sc in each of next 3 stitches. Chain 3. Sc into same stitch as last sc was worked.* This will create a little loop of chain stitches coming from the same sc stitch.

Continue working from * to * around the piece. Join with slip stitch. Cut yarn leaving a tail of about 10 inches to weave in. Draw tail through last loop to secure. Weave in ends.

Borders are fun to experiment with. Use your imagination and creativity to come up with variations of other borders you have tried from patterns. You can crochet a different border on every afghan you make, creating a truly one-of-a-kind work of art!

Happy Stitching!

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How to Crochet a Border Around a Knitted Piece

After working on my first Oddball Baby Blanket which was knitted all except for the border which was crocheted, I thought that making a little video tutorial on how to work a single crochet border around a knitted piece might be helpful to some knitters out there who are not very confident with a crochet hook. And now that I think of it, it might also be helpful to confident crocheters who are not very comfortable working on a knitted piece too.

This technique can be used to crochet a border around a knitted baby blanket as is done on all the knitted Oddball Blankets, and other things too. You could knit squares for a patchwork type of afghan and crochet a simple border around them before joining them together. I find joining squares with a crocheted border much easier than joining the edges of knitted squares. Another good use for this technique would be for knitted dishcloths or face clothes which tend to be a bit stretchy. Crocheting a simple border around them would help them retain their shape better and reduce the stretch factor.

Take a look at the video and then maybe give it a try on your next knitted project.




If you would like to work a decorative border after the single crochet border but you are not sure how to do one, take a look at the Finished Oddball Baby Blanket and try the border pattern given there. I'll be posting a video on how to do that border pattern soon, just in case someone out there would rather See It Done!

Happy Stitching!

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Crocheted Basketweave Afghan Finished

Early in the spring, I started crocheting an afghan which I had hoped to finish before the warm weather arrived. That was not to be though, and it sat there all through the warm summer months, only getting a few minutes attention now and then when the evening temperatures dropped enough to make it tolerable to have all that coziness sitting on my lap. Finally the cool weather returned here to beautiful New England and just the other night I finished the afghan. Hip hip hooray!

This afghan is crocheted entirely in Basketweave Stitch with a simple single crochet border around the edge to finish it off.

Here are a few pictures of it before I wrapped it up to send off to my old friend out in Kansas City, Missouri:

Here you can see what an interesting design and texture the Basketweave stitch gives to the afghan. It is entirely double crochet, stitched around the post from the front three times and then from the back three times, which gives it the Basketweave effect, so it was easy to crochet. I like projects where, once I have the pattern established, I don't have to look at the instructions. This is that type of pattern.

I also insist on using a stitch for an afghan that is the same on the front and the back. The Basketweave Stitch in crochet is reversible so the front and back are the same.


Here you can see the very simple Single Crochet border that I put around this afghan. This gives the border a nicely finished look and also provides an easy way to catch in all those loose ends on the edge from where the new skeins were added on. The process of adding a new skein is described in my article on how to change colors, but adding a new skein of the same color uses the same method. By doing this border and crocheting over the loose ends at the same time, I only had the final tail of yarn to weave in when I was finished. That's my kind of finish work!


And here it is, crocheted with love and ready to be wrapped up and mailed to an old friend.

In making this afghan, I used eight 7-ounce skeins of Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Ranch Red.

I have already started working on an afghan, using Red Heart Easy Tweed in Pistachio green, which will be a wedding gift to my niece who is getting married in November. I have chosen a new stitch called Close Scallops that I really like and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you in a video tutorial very soon.

Don't forget to enter my fall giveaway by October 14th for a chance to win a very nice pincushion bag and other fall goodies. Good luck!

Happy Stitching!

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Stitch Chart for Crochet -- Another Handy Helper

Continuing the Crochet theme, below you will see a handy reference chart which should help you in working the different crochet stitches properly. When I haven't crocheted in a while, sometimes I forget how many stitches to add to the beginning chain for the stitch I want to use, or how many chains to work before turning, or if I am supposed to start the next row in the first or second stitch. If you are making up a design as you go along instead of working from a pattern which would give you this information, sometimes it's hard to remember the details of each stitch. So here is all that information and more in a handy reference chart.

	# times to wrap yarn	YO, pull thru # loops, # of times	Chain plus #	Insert hook in # chain from hook	Chain # to turn	Insert hook in this stitch to start new row	Use turning chain as stitch?
Single	0	2, 1x	1	2nd	1	1st	no
Half Double	1	3, 1x	2	3rd	2	1st	no
Double	1	2, 2x	3	4th	3	2nd	yes
Triple	2	2, 3x	4	5th	4	2nd	yes
DoubleTriple	3	2, 4x	5	6th	5	2nd	yes
Triple Triple	4	2, 5x	6	7th	6	2nd	yes

The first column -- # times to wrap yarn -- tells the number of times to wrap the yarn around the hook when beginning the stitch and before putting the hook into the stitch or chain below.

The second column -- YO, pull thru # loops # times -- refers to the number of times you need to Yarn Over and pull the yarn through the number of loops to form the stitch. This is after you initially Yarn Over and pull the yarn through the stitch or chain below.

The third column -- chain plus # -- gives you the number of chain stitches you have to add to the beginning chain in order to work that particular stitch. For example, if you want to work a piece in double crochet that will be 30 stitches wide, you would chain 30 then add 3 more chains before turning and working the first row of double crochet stitches.

The fourth column -- insert hook in # chain from hook -- refers to which chain stitch you insert your hook into after working the beginning chain and turning to begin the first row of stitches. In the example above, you would insert your hook in the 4th chain from your hook.

The fifth column -- chain # to turn -- gives you the number of chain stitches to work at the end of a row before you turn to begin the next row of the particular stitch. For example, if you are going to work triple crochet for your next row, you would chain 4 before turning.

The sixth column -- insert hook in this stitch to start new row -- tells you which stitch to put your hook into when you start a new row of the particular stitch. For example, if you are working a row of half double crochet stitches, you would first chain 2 to turn then insert your hook in the 1st stitch to begin the next row.

The last column -- use turning chain as stitch? -- tells you whether or not the turning chain will be considered a stitch. If you notice that for both single crochet and half double crochet stitches, the first stitch in a row is worked into the first stitch of the row below and the turning chain is not counted as a stitch, but in all others the first stitch is worked in the second stitch of the row below and the turning chain is counted as a stitch. This keeps the stitch count consistent throughout your work. This is the rule, but some patterns will indicate not to use the turning chain as a stitch in which case you simply follow the directions as given for the pattern.

I hope you will find this chart helpful when working your crochet projects. You might want to bookmark this page so you can find it quickly.

Happy Stitching!

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